The Lamigo Monkeys are to hold a victory parade in Taoyuan tomorrow to celebrate winning the Chinese Professional Baseball League’s Taiwan Series, team officials said yesterday, while announcing a series of special events and sales at corporate parent Lamigo’s core businesses and participating stores.
The Monkeys on Thursday crushed Brothers Baseball Club in Game 5 of the best-of-seven, season-ending series at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, a 20-3 blowout victory that secured them a third consecutive championship.
The Monkeys have been the league’s most dominant team over the past decade, winning the championship five times in the past six years, and their ferocious batting lineup set several new records in this season’s final game.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kun, Taipei Times
In Game 5, the Monkeys cranked out 21 hits, including a record five home runs, and their 20 runs set a new record for the Taiwan Series, surpassing the previous high of 19.
The 17-run winning margin was also a new record for the series.
The Monkeys also became Taiwan’s fourth professional team to win the championship title in three consecutive years, joining the now-defunct Weichuan Dragons, the then-Brother Elephants and the Uni-President Lions.
After the game, Lamigo general manager Justin Liu said: “I am proud to say that our team can be considered a powerhouse with the three-peat.”
“This is a wonderful accomplishment. It is a perfect ending, just like in the movies. I wish time could be frozen at this moment forever,” he said, referring to the game being the last for the club as the Lamigo Monkeys.
Earlier this year, the ball club was purchased by Tokyo-based e-commerce giant Rakuten. They are to be renamed the Rakuten Golden Eagles starting next season, but would continue to play home games at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium.
Head coach Hung Yi-chung was modest about the victory.
“We were more fortunate in these games — luck was on our side,” Hung said.
“But it was not easy, as heading into the post-season, our coaching staff had lots of work, from helping players recuperate from injuries to tuning their conditioning from our late-season slump,” Hung added.
Second-year Monkeys player Lin Li was voted Most Valuable Player for the finals after recording 13 hits, three home runs and 11 RBIs for a 0.520 batting average over the five games.
Separately yesterday, Taiwan were as of press time last night leading South Korea 7-1 through the seventh inning in the medal round of the Asian Baseball Championship at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium.
In the afternoon contest at the stadium, Japan trounced China 11-1.
South Korea are to face Japan at noon today at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, followed by Taiwan taking on China at 6:30pm.
Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday fought through a second-set slump to post a roller-coaster 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Damir Dzumhur in his opening match at the Cincinnati Open. The Spaniard, playing his first tournament since losing to Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon final, raced through the first set, but completely lost his way in the second, dropping his serve twice against the 33-year-old Bosnian. Alcaraz regained his intensity and cut down his errors in the third set as a seventh ace took him to a match point that was converted when Dzumhur fired wide. “It was just a roller coaster,” said the second
Taiwan’s men’s basketball team on Monday clinched a spot in the FIBA Asia Cup quarter-finals with a 78-64 win over Jordan in Saudi Arabia, securing their best finish in the tournament since placing fourth in 2013. The win was sweet revenge for Taiwan, who were denied a quarter-final spot by Jordan at the same stage of the previous Asia Cup in 2022 after blowing a nine-point lead in the final minute and losing 97-96 on a half-court buzzer-beater. “History is part of the journey,” Taiwan head coach Gianluca Tucci said when asked about the 2022 collapse of the team, who he did
NEXT ROUND: World No. 1s Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka opened their title defenses with straight-sets wins, while Iga Swiatek and Taylor Fritz also advanced Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka got their title defenses off to smooth starts as they powered into the third round of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open on Saturday. The men’s and women’s top seeds, each ranked No. 1 in the world, were both competing for the first time since Wimbledon, where Sinner lifted the title and Sabalenka bowed out in the women’s semi-finals. Sinner crushed Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan 6-1, 6-1 in steamy afternoon weather, while Sabalenka beat 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 7-5, 6-1 under the lights of the night session. Sabalenka needed 54 minutes and a service break in the final game
Defending champions Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday led the way into the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals, with Carlos Alcaraz hot on their heels after a straight-sets victory of his own. Sinner shrugged off a mid-match weather delay lasting nearly three hours as he advanced 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) over Adrian Mannarino. Alcaraz, the second seed who has reached the final in his past six tournaments, hammered Italian lucky loser Luca Nardi 6-1, 6-4. After sweeping the opening set in 28 minutes, Alcaraz hit a speed bump, dropping his serve to trail 2-4. He promptly regained the break, then fought through a marathon ninth game
RSS